High-resolution genotype-phenotype map of speciation and adaptation

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Understanding how mutations, random genetic drift and natural selection interact with ecological factors to drive evolution is one of the greatest challenges in biology. Achieving this goal requires that we understand how changes in genes lead to changes in phenotypes. This genotype-to-phenotype mapping involves drawing mechanistic links between phenotypic changes and their underlying molecular bases at intermediate levels (transcripts, proteins, metabolites, cellular networks) between the genotype (DNA) and fitness. The mechanisms by which genotypes are translated into phenotypes is itself, along with evolutionary forces such as mutation and natural selection, a major determinant of what solutions are possible and will be used during evolution. My objective is to examine how genomes and cellular networks change during evolution and how the architecture of cellular networks can itself influence the course of evolution in interaction with environmental changes. I will reach this objective by combining two approaches. The first one is prospective and will use experimental evolution. I will test hypotheses regarding the role of cellular network architecture in shaping adaptation and speciation and the role of adaptation and speciation in shaping cellular networks. My model system will be the budding yeast